when you’re parents are sci-fi geeks

This kid might be screwed as far as names go.  Hank is, of course, into sci-fi and horror and so am I.  Meaning, I won’t fight for “normal” sounding names.  When Hank rattles off names of movies we love (30 Days of Night, Daywatch, The Midnight Meat Train), I’m all too quick to imdb it and look at the cast of characters.

I guess it’s silly to worry about people you don’t know stealing your names, so whatever.  We’re both huge fans of Milla Jovovich and I’ve loved the name Milla for a long time.

I was flipping through a magazine and saw her pictured as her character from The Fifth Element.  Hank walked around chanting, “Lee-loo Dallas Multipass!”  I said that, instead of referring to it currently as Demon Seed, we’re going to call it Lee-Loo now.

Half an hour later, as we’re throwing names out, I said (and you’re all going to hate me for this, I know), “But I really like the sound of Lee-Loo Dallas!”  Added to Hank’s last name, it’s got a fabulous ring to it.  This turned into my deciding that a name like this could mold her into the kind of girl-geek we’d want her to be (if it were a girl, that is.)  Quite frankly, as dorky as I am today, I’d be thrilled to have a name like that.  And she could go by Loo/Lou – which, if put on a resume, would make people think she were a man and give her a leg up on the job hunt.

Then, going a long with it, we thought how absolutely hysterical it would be if her first word was “multi-pass!”  I don’t care if she says “mom” or “dad.”  I’d coach her every day.  “Lee-loo!  Say multi-pass!  Multi-pass!”

(If you’ve seen and are a fan of The Fifth Element, you’ll appreciate and get the humor in this.  Look – when I tell you that I’m not into chick flicks and am a genuine geek, I mean it.  Now you understand.)

Ok.  We wouldn’t actually name it LeeLoo Dallas.  Maybe.  But god, I love to pretend we really could.  I grew up with a difficult name and I grew into it, and grew to love it.  (My full name is Nichelle, which I don’t use nearly enough.  Of course, I get a lot of Michelle, but I also get a wide variety of mispronunciations with the correct first letter.  Nickel-ey.  Niche -ellie. N-eye-kel.)  And we live in Los Angeles, a weird name is par for the course.

Update:  I called my mom to say, “If we have a girl, we’re naming her LeeLoo Dallas,” expecting her to object and tell me how stupid it is.  Surprisingly, she actually liked it and said, “That’s totally you.”  Hmph.

At first we didn’t much care about gender – but as time (days) go by, I think we’re both leaning towards a boy.  (Hank wants to be the father he never had, to a son, girls are more terrifying to raise, I like the idea of it being the first grandson on his side, etc.)  Though I kinda want a girl if only so I can seriously consider naming it LeeLoo Dallas.